Irish Toasts

Categories:

St Patrick's Day

March 11, 2008

Everyone knows that St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s national holiday, is a day of celebration.  It’s a tradition across the country and a great excuse to party in the middle of March.  Around the globe on March 17th people will be celebrating with parties, parades, and carnivals.  Every Irish pub will be packed full of people, Irish or not, eating corned beef and cabbage and drinking pints of Guinness.  In addition to those pints of Guinness, many people will enjoy a little Irish coffee or some smooth Irish whiskey.   But before you take a drink of anything Irish on St Patricks Day you must adhere to the Irish culture and give an Irish toast or blessing. 

Here are a few:

  • May your glass be ever full and May the roof over your head be always strong. 
  • May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.
  • Here’s to me, and here’s to you, and here’s to love and laughter.  I’ll be true as long as you, and not one moment after.
  • May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live.
  • As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction.
  • May you live to be a hundred years, with one extra year to repent.
  • May the friendships you make, be those which endure; and all of your grey clouds, be small ones for sure.

So this St Patricks Day before you take a drink of that green beer, raise your glass and shout out an Irish toast for all to hear!

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The All Important Coloring of the Easter Egg

Categories:

Easter

March 4, 2008

Every year at Easter one of the most important traditions at our house has always been the coloring of the Easter eggs.  The kids love it!  My daughters Olivia and Sydney are in it for the long run.  They start early Saturday morning, the weekend before Easter, by getting all the eggs boiled and cooled.   We always color two dozen eggs so that the kids each get to color eight eggs each.   The kitchen table is transformed into their very own egg coloring craft table so that everyone has plenty of room.  But most importantly (and I have learned this the hard way over the years) we always have three boxes of Paas Easter Egg Coloring Dyes so that no one gets accused of “hogging” any specific color and they each have their own colors and crayon to design with.

The girls always go for the bright spring colors and of course they have to be perfect, while Caden my son tends to dip his egg into as many colors as possible for a darker color.  The crayon that comes with the kits always gives them plenty of different ways to decorate their egg before dipping them into the color.  Once all the eggs are done, which can take up to an hour to achieve perfection in egg coloring with youngsters, they put them in a basket on the kitchen table for all to see. 

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Happy Leap Day!

Categories:

Trivia

February 29, 2008

With today being February 29, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Leap Day!   Since today’s date only occurs every four years I thought it was worth a mention. 

Ok, how does Leap Year happen?  Well we all know that there are 365 days in a year, but what I bet you didn’t know is that for the earth to make a complete revolution around the sun it takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours.  Therefore, every four years an extra 24 hours has accumulated making it so that one extra day is added to that calendar to keep the count coordinated with the sun’s apparent position.  Pretty wild huh?

Here’s some more fun facts about Leap Year:

  • it occurs in years evenly divisible by four
  • a person born on February 29 may be called a “leapling”
  • a year that is not a leap year is called a common year
  • the Egyptians were the first to come up with the idea of adding a leap day once every four years
  • the Romans became the first to designate February 29 as the leap day

So there you have it!  Just a little “fyi” on Leap Day that you can think about for the next four years! 

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No “Bunny” Does Kids Costumes Like Tom Arma

Categories:

Easter, Holiday Costumes, Kids Costumes, Toddler Costumes

February 27, 2008

February is coming to a close and soon Easter will be upon us – 25 more days to be exact!  I love Easter.  Just knowing winter is over and spring has finally arrived is enough reason for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the first few snow falls and how pretty everything looks blanketed in that beautiful white snow, then come February I am so over it!  As I get older the thought of becoming a Florida “snowbird” gets more and more appealing to me.  However, with my youngest just finishing pre-school I think my snowbird days are pretty much wishful thinking at this point!

Speaking of pre-school age, have you seen the Tom Arma Bunny Costume for infants and toddlers yet?  It is absolutely adorable made from soft plush with faux fur and lined with the softest fleece.  I couldn’t order mine fast enough!  Plus all the Tom Arma costumes come with an animal package insert ”critter facts” from the National Wildlife Federation so you and your child can learn more about how to promote conservation awarenss for the animal you’re portraying with your costume.  So when you order the Tom Arma Bunny costume, you’ll receive “critter facts” about the Snowshoe Hare. 

The entire Tom Arma costume line is available exclusively from Halloween Express.  Oh, I almost forgot … check out the 2008 Tom Arma Baby & Toddler of the Year Photo Contest.   Enter your baby or toddler into the contest and you could win $500 (plus a bunch of other cool stuff!)

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Whether You Are Irish or Just Wish You Were

Categories:

Let's Party, St Patrick's Day

February 24, 2008

With St Patrick’s Day right around the corner everyone is thinking green.  Have you heard the saying, “On St Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish” – well, I believe it!  St Patrick’s Day is such a “fun” day with parades, parties and of course the drinking of the “green beer” at all the bars and Irish pubs.  When you’re surrounded by all the festivites and everyone is having a great time, you find yourself wishing you were Irish.  I’m telling you those Irish folk sure know how to have a good time!   Just in case you’re not of Irish decent but would like to be on March 17, here are a few Irish fun facts for you to know:

  • St Patrick - the patron Saint of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to the Island.  He used the shamrock with its three leaf clovers to teach the Irish about the Holy Trinity.
  • The Luck of the Irish – if you have good luck one day you can expect bad luck the next
  • Kissing the Blarney Stone – a stone set in the wall of the Blarney Castle in the Irish village of Blarney.  Kissing the stone is supposed to bring the kisser the gift of persuasive eloquence.
  • Erin Go Bragh – Ireland Forever
  • Leprechaun - an Irish fairy, often dressed as a shoemaker.
  • Irish Pubs – ale is ordered by pints and quarts.  So in Old England when customers got unruly the bartender used to yell at them to mind their pints and quarts and settle down – hence the saying ”mind your own P’s and Q’s”.

Even though in the United States the tradition continues with people from all walks of life wearing everything and anything green – the custom in Ireland is just the opposite.  On St Patrick’s Day, it is not custom in Ireland to wear green ties, hats or other green clothes.  The preferred display is a sprig of shamrock in their coat lapel. 

However, since it is custom in our neck of the woods to wear as much green as you possibly can, then what are you waiting for?  If you want to be the life of the party this year, check out our entire line of St Patrick’s Day clothing and accessories! 

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